GDP stays in election race

The Grassroots Democratic Party launched its election campaign in earnest on Tuesday in the capital. Pha Lina

GDP stays in election race

Mon, 23 July 2018

The Grassroots Democratic Party (GDP) has turned back from its earlier warning that it could withdraw from participating in the July 29 national elections, it announced on Sunday.

The party said it made the decision as the atmosphere of resistance from the Kingdom’s authorities had decreased.

The GDP’s leaders had earlier said their activists felt threatened in many cases over run-ins with law enforcement officials and claimed they had been unfairly treated.

However, kicking off a party parade in the capital, the GDP’s prime ministerial candidate, Yang Saing Koma, told reporters that the party will “definitely” be on the ballot.

“We have decided that we will go forward. We will not withdraw from the election but will wait for the election and counting day,” he said.

Saing Koma said after the GDP’s criticisms went public, the situation improved and local police seemed more cooperative with his party.

He said a speech by Interior Minister Sar Kheng last week calling on local officials not to discriminate over political affiliations may have had something to do with the change.

“First, we had difficulties, but those difficulties have decreased ... today police are helping us from the beginning of the rally ... plus the announcement from [Interior Minister Sar Kheng] recently has helped, and we can see that they have stopped interfering with our campaign,” he said.

Saing Koma also predicted that 75 percent of the Kingdom’s 8.3 million eligible voters would show up at the polls.

Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) spokesman Sok Eysan said that the GDP leader’s comments were merely given to save face before election day.

“We think that it is just to protect their reputation because he has no hope of them winning the election,” he said.

Username *

Password *

MOST VIEWED

Minister of Education Hang Chuon Naron on Tuesday wrote to Prime Minister Hun Sen requesting a delay of school reopening across the Kingdom until November, when the new academic year begins.
In his letter, Chuon Naron said the postponement is warranted to avoid the new

The Ministry of Interior’s General Department of Immigration (GDI) announced that it would not grant visa extensions to foreigners staying in Cambodia if their names are not listed on the Foreigners Present in Cambodia System (FPCS) by July 1.
Foreign nationals can register in the

The Covid-19 risk level for individual transmission is at an “alarming rate” in the Kingdom and its probability is “not low”, warned Health Ministry spokesperson Or Vandine.
“Cambodia’s coronavirus scenario is classified as being at an early stage of the pandemic because of ongoing

Some of the roughly 30,000 workers from factories and enterprises across the Kingdom who went on leave during Khmer New Year began their government-imposed 14-day quarantine on Monday.
Speaking at a press conference while visiting workers at the Phnom Penh Special Economic Zone on Monday, Ministry

The Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training has instructed enterprises, business owners and travel agencies in five provinces to prepare the proper forms for the suspension of employment contracts.
This, it said, will make it easier for the ministry to transfer $40 a month to workers

While the majority of Cambodians have paid heed to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s order to stay put and not travel during the Khmer New Year – the holidays of which were also postponed – several hundred have left Phnom Penh nonetheless.
They have allegedly breached provincial

Top oil producers struggled to finalise production cuts during a virtual summit held by Group of 20 (G20) energy ministers on Friday, despite US President Donald Trump’s mediation efforts to end a standoff with Mexico.
The final G20 communique appeared to gloss over simmering divisions

The government on Friday eased the district and provincial border restrictions issued on Thursday. People are now allowed to cross districts within their provinces.
Phnom Penh and Kandal province are to be treated as a single region where people are allowed to travel freely.
In

The Cambodian Higher Education Association has claimed that 113 private educational establishments are facing bankruptcy because of their inability to pay rent and staff salaries in light of nationwide school closures caused by the Covid-19 outbreak.
It said the financial trouble started when the Ministry of